The List: 24 Aug 1990 (Issue 129)

Blood is decorative. Abnormalities abound. In the end, however, it is Lula and Sailor’s rollercoaster relationship—which exhilarates you one minute and scares the poop out ot you the next — that gives the story its dynamism.

WILD THINGS CONT. look at this woman and he goes “THAT’S YOUR MOM!" Dern laughs. ‘There was something about it that was so absurd and so beautiful at the same time.‘

Adapted by Lynch from Barry Gifford‘s then unpublished novel. WildAt Heart follows Sailor and Lula as they ﬂee from Marietta’s hired gunmen. During their journey they reminisce and are haunted by memories. And every character runs into something rather unsavoury along the way: Johnnie Farragut (Stanton) is inducted into a voodoo ritual first hand: Lula and Sailor happen upon a horrible car accident. Driving through the southern night to strains of Chris Isaak‘s western guitar. the film‘s more joyous scenes are like a wonderous teen road movie.

Lynch found the story irresistible. 'I just fell in love with the two of them and as I said before, I liked the fact that they were caring so much for each other. that. they were fairly cool. slightly renegade kind ofcharacters and yet were very much in love.‘ he says. ‘I was fascinated by that. That‘s what excited me about this project. It’s a dangerous thing. it's like real life.‘

The director doesn't feel he has delved yet again into the seamier side of life. even if Wild At Heart does have a lot of sex scenes and the kind of violence the censors in America are already objecting to. But Lynch defends the story‘s more objectionable scenes by saying they are part of the narratives own logic. ‘I‘m not in love with violence or sexual perversion. but I guess I am drawn to stories where those things take place.‘ says the director. ‘I can perceive ofmaking a movie without violence in it. Your own moral code is working in these decisions, but it is my goal not to trust anybody else's.

‘I worry about (the violence) but again its a movie world,‘ he continues. ‘It is in the safety ofa

theatre that you can experience different things. Violence for violence‘s sake is not good. They’ve found a way to show violence and not really bother anybody. But that has its own bad side too because that brings the idea that violence isn’t so bad, that there isn‘t any pain. It‘s all tricky business.‘

The world of Wild At Heart is studded with the kinds ofoutrageous individuals we‘ve come to expect from Lynch: Lula‘s cousin who was found to have littered his underwear with cockroaches is just one example. Devices seen in other Lynch films are present too. In his cameo appearance a barﬂy. Freddie Jones speaks in the same distorted way as did the midget at the end ofthe pilot for Twin Peaks. Blood is decorative. Abnormalities abound. In the end. however. it is Lula and Sailor‘s rollercoaster relationship — which exhilirates you one minute and scares the poop out ofyou the next — that gives the story its dynanism.

Like Blue Velvet. Wild zlt Heart‘s denouement is unpredictable but then again. movie-goers have come to expect the unexpected from Lynch. A masterpiece ofgoodness and evil. light and dark. danger and safety. reality and hallucination. Wild At Heart‘s stylish narrative ~ which relies on brief flashbacks for detail — shows that the director has done his cinematic homework. In his typically nonchalant American way. Lynch simply sees Wild/it Heart as an uplifting experience. ‘Life is good at the end of the film.’ he says. ‘and that‘s all I know.‘ '

Wild at Heart (18) closes the Edinburgh Film Festival on Sun 26 Aug at the Cameo cinema, 228 4141, with a sell-out gala performance at 8. 45pm. An extra show at midnight the same night is selling fast, but the film opens at the Cameo and the U C 1 Craig Park, Edinburgh, the nextday. Mon 27 Aug. See Film Listings for further details.